Colin Holderman's injury doesn't do anything to take away from his impact to 2027 Guardians

On April 26, the Cleveland Guardians called up Colin Holderman to be the last man in the bullpen. 

Although the Guardians signed Holderman in the offseason to be a key cog in their bullpen, he was demoted to Triple-A at the end of the first series of the year after two sluggish outings against the Mariners.

Not exactly what the Guardians expected when they signed him to a one-year, $1.5 million deal in the offseason. 

But that aforementioned promotion in April kicked off a four-month span where Holderman morphed into one of the most dominant relievers in the Guardians ‘pen while doing everything from working multiple innings to picking up single innings saves. 

However he won’t get a chance to build on that in the postseason, as he told reporters earlier today that he needs to undergo surgery to clear up wrist inflammation that’s kept him out since the start of September. 

Holderman’s absence may be a huge loss for the Guardians’ bullpen in the present, it shouldn’t do anything to take away from what he could bring to Cleveland’s bullpen next season. 

Colin Holderman won't be a factor for the Guardians in the postseason this year

One of the sneaky additions of the Guardians’ signing of Holderman is that he came with two more years of team control via arbitration, and they have a great opportunity to take advantage of that next season. 

He’ll be due for a bit of a raise thanks to his strong season, but every penny will be worth it so long as he keeps things up after this year. 

Holderman ended up finishing the season with a 2.73 in 52 2/3 innings with 50 strikeouts and one save. He also allowed just one home run. 

He opened his second stint with the Guardians as a longman, but he quickly moved up the trust tree after allowing just one run in his first 17 2/3 innings after being recalled. He followed that up with a scoreless June (9 1/3 innings) with four holds and a win. 

He may have been prone to the occasional blow up outing every once and a while, but he became a great bridge reliever to set up the middle innings for Hunter Gaddis and Cade Smith. 

Even though Holderman’s loss is going to loom large in the postseason, they’ve been without him since the start of September due to that wrist injury which opened up more high-leverage opportunities for Craig Yoho and Erik Sabrowski. 

Sabrowski should easily slide into Holderman’s role alongside Shawn Armstrong, who returned from the injured list a week ago. 

Holderman may not play a part in the Guardians’ bullpen this postseason, but it won’t take long for him to be a factor with the 2027 Guardians.

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